An attack on a Catholic church in northern France that saw an 84-year-old priest killed is an attack against all religions, the head of the European Jewish Congress said.

Two assailants who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State also critically wounded at least one other person during the Tuesday morning attack in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, a suburb of Rouen about 65 miles northwest of Paris. They shouted “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great” in Arabic, before slitting the priest’s throat, according to reports.

The terrorists were shot and killed after taking the priest, two nuns and two parishioners hostage during morning Mass. Following the siege, the Islamic State claimed the two men as its “soldiers.” [Read more…]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video message called on Arab citizens of Israel to become more involved in Israeli society.

The message was released Monday evening in Hebrew and English with subtitles in Arabic.

“Before my election, I said Arab voters were going to the polls in droves,” Netanyahu said, referring to the March 2015 national election. “I was referring to a specific political party, but many people were understandably offended. I apologized for how my comment was misunderstood.

“But today I want to go further. Today I am asking Arab citizens in Israel to take part in our society — in droves. Work in droves, study in droves, thrive in droves.” [Read more…]

Police officers responding to a shooting at the Olympia Einkaufzentrum (OEZ) in Munich, Germany, July 22, 2016. (Joerg Koch/Getty Images)

(JTA) – Several people are dead and injured, and parts of the city are under lockdown, in what is suspected to be a terror attack near the site of the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.

Three gunmen are at large after opening fire at Munich’s Olympia-Einkaufszentrum shopping mall, several media outlets reported. The shooting began in a McDonald’s restaurant there shortly after 6 pm. [Read more…]

(JTA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to offer condolences on the death of Abbas’ brother.

Omar Abbas died in Qatar Thursday, with the funeral taking place on Friday. He had been suffering from cancer and had been undergoing treatment in Tel Aviv’s Assuta Medical Center, the AFP news agency reported. [Read more…]

(JTA) – Following the fifth death in two months of an Israeli child who had been left in a parked car, the country’s children welfare watchdog called for regulations that would prevent the recurrence of such cases.

Vered Windman, the director of the Israel National Council for the Child, made the call Friday, urging the government to it mandatory to install alert systems. [Read more…]

(JTA) – The Pokemon Go craze has hit Holocaust memorials in Germany and a Jewish cemetery in Britain, in what some Jewish community representatives said was a show of insensitivity that the game’s developer should help prevent.

According to news reports, players have been gleefully seeking Pokemon creatures using their cell phones at a memorial for the 320 murdered Jews of Aurich, a town in Lower Saxony. Pokemon Go is a game which superimposes animated figures onto the video feed of smartphone cameras. Players can “catch” the animated figures if they stand near enough to the geographical area designated by the program as a PokeStop. [Read more…]

(JTA) – After a week in house arrest in connection with a fraud investigation, police released Ari Harow, a California-born former chief of staff of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Harow, 43, was detained for questioning at Ben-Gurion airport last week and questioned for 14 hours in connection with suspected financial violations involving Netanyahu but he was released on Friday. Police said they will not seek to extend his detainment at this time, the NRG news site reported. The investigation, which is subject to a partial gag order, involved suspicions of massive money laundering, Israeli media reported. [Read more…]

(JTA) – T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights is urging action in Israel against two rabbis who made “denigrating” comments about LGBT people and women, among other comments that stirred controversy in recent days.

The rabbinic network, which represents some 1,800 rabbis in North America, said in a release Thursday that the Israel Defense Forces should rescind Rabbi Eyal Karim’s appointment as the Chief Rabbi of the IDF, and end government funding for the pre-military academy headed by Rabbi Yigal Levinstein. [Read more…]